It is an unprecedented request given the characteristics of the NAM, a conclave of countries without great powers.
The Russian authorities announced on Thursday their intention to apply to join the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) as an observer.
The request was announced by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergei Vershinin, who said about it: “Russia requested to enter this movement as an observer country.”
The Russian deputy foreign minister added that the procedure may take some time. He also added that “(…) the last major events, the forums of recent years that took place in Baku [Azerbaijan], showed the strong similarity in the positions of the member countries of that organization and Russia.”
The NAM was constituted in 1961. It is made up of 120 countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, as an alternative to the confrontation of the two great powers of the moment: the United States and the Soviet Union.
At present, Azerbaijan, a country in the post-Soviet space, is the leader of the Movement. In the NAM, 17 States and 10 international organizations have the status of observers.
